Road packer



March 22, 1960 c. JONES 2,929,304

ROAD PACKER Filed Dec. 2, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ora/g Jones 1 N VEN TOR.

Y vM L March 22, 1960 c. JONES 2,929,304

ROAD PACKER Filed Dec. 2, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l8 /6 Fig. 3 /4 l2 Fig.9 Fi 8 Fig.5

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/ Grai Jones 50 g INVENTOR.

L6 BY 3644M ROAD PACKER Craig Jones, Powell, Wyo. I Application December2, 1957, Serial No. 700,017

2 Claims. (CI. 94-50) This invention relates to a road packer and moreparticularly to a road packer possessing structural features.

that make the packing result superior to packing that is achieved byordinary, commercially available packers.

An object of the invention is to provide a road packer which has aplurality of interconnected sections capable of moving with respect toeach other, each section or at least, some of the sections havingpacking wheels that move with each individual section. In this way thewheels are capable of moving up and down to conform tothe surface of theground. Presently available packers have rigid axles which do not allowall of the tires to contact the ground if the ground is not level anduniform.

A further object of my invention is to provide a road packer, possessingthe feature of .having the packing wheels individually suspended andprovided with means by which all of the sections that support the wheelsare capable of a constrained travel. There are compartments in thevarious sections to receive material or objects by which to weight thewheels down. Accordingly, each packing wheel has its weight enabling thepacking wheel to perform a very adequate packing function and yet travelwith the irregularities of the soil so that a more complete packing jobresults.

Other objects and features of importance such as mechanical simplicityof construction and practicability will become apparent in following thedescription of the illustrated form of the invention.

Figure l. is a top view of a road packer which is con structed inaccordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the road packer in Figure 1,

parts being broken away to illustrate internal detail.

Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken on the line 3-3of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing in detail themeans by which the sections of the road packer are structurallyinterconnected.

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 5-5of Figure 2. Y

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a bearing constructionand taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the sectionsconstituting a part of my road packer.

Figure 8 is a schematic representation showing the road packer on levelsoil.

Figure 9 is another schematic representation showing the same roadpacker on irregular soil.

In the accompanying drawings there is a road packer 10 which isconstructed in accordance with the principles of the invention. The roadpacker is composed of a body having four sections 12, 14, 16 and 18,respectively, al-

though any practical number of such sections may be used in arriving atoperative embodiments of my invention. Each section has four side wallsand a bottom wall. In addition, each section has an open top withinwhich to receive material to weight the road packer. The material may berocks, soil, etc. A typical section 18 will have two larger sides 20 and22 held spaced apart and parallel to each other by shorter sides or ends24 and 26. The sides and ends are attached to the bottom 28, and it hasa well 30 formed in it within which to accommodate a single wheel 32 ordual wheels, depending on the width dimension of the section 18. Side 20has a plurality of dovetail slots 34 extending vertically therein andaccepting a plurality of dovetail tongues 36 which are on the side 38 ofthe next adjacent section 16. Each slot 34 has a rear wall and twooutwardly converging side walls 39 and 40 (see Fig. 4). The dovetailtongue 36 in the dovetail slot 34 has a pair of similarly angulatedwalls 41 and 42 and an end wall 44 that is parallel to the innermostwall of dovetail slot 36. An interfitted connection is formed in thisway enabling both sections 16 and 18 to move in one plane with respectto each other and preventing the sections from separating or moving atright angles to the plane of movement. In other words, sections 16 and18 are constrained in their travel and the same holds true of all of theother sections because they are constructed similarly. End sections 12and 18 do not have dovetail slots or tongues on their outer wallsinasmuch as they are unnecessary. However all of the intermediatesections (regardless of the number of them) will have dovetail slots andtongues on both side walls.

Wheel 32 is mounted on an axle 4S, and the axle is mounted for rotationin anti-friction bearings 49 and 50. These are carried in pillow blocks5d and 51 bolted or otherwise fastened in recesses 52 and 53 that areformed in the side walls of section 18 and on opposite sides of well 30thereof. In this way wheel 32 is mounted for rotation on section 18 butis movable vertically therewith independent of all of the other wheels54, 55 and 56 of my road packer.

Inasmuch as the sections are capable of independent movement in an upand down direction, they must be constrained or at least, they should beconstrained in their travel. It is possible that my road packer could beused Without any means of restraint which would limit the extent of upand down movement of the sections with respect to each other. This iscontemplated as a useful subcombination of my invention. The morecomprehensive. combination will include an extensible link 58 (Fig. 3)which serves the secondary function of supporting the tongue 60. Thetongue has an eye 61 at one end which schematically represents any meansof fastening to a vehicle to draw the packer over the soil. The tonguehas yoke 62 at the opposite end and the yoke is attached to angle bars63 and 64. The outer extremities of the angle bars 63 and 64 are securedto angle mounting plates 65 and 66 which are welded to the front cornersof sections 12 and 18. Pipe fittings 67 and 63 can be used at the end ofyoke 62 in fastening the yoke to the angle bars 63 and 64. They may bewelded in place or freely pivotable thereon. The angle bars have sleeves70 and 71 welded on their ends in order to form continuations of theangle bars. The sleeves 70 and 71 are coaxial and accommodate sleeves 72and 73, each being reciprocatably disposed in their sleeves 70 and 71.Spring 75 is attached at one end to a transverse pin 76, and this pin isfastened to sleeve 71. The opposite end of spring 75, which is a tensionspring, is secured to pin 77. The last mentioned pin is fastened toangle bar 6 Accordingly, the spring 75 opposes the outward movement ofsleeve 72 with respect to sleeve 71 and angle bar 64.

Spring 78 constitutes resilient means to perform the same function asspring 75. It is attached at one end to pin 79 and at the other end topin 80, these pins secured respectively to angle bar 63 and sleeve 73'.Accordingly, the sleeves 73 and 72 can move in and out of their sleeves70 and 71 and are capable of limited rotational movement.

The link 58 has a piston rod 82 with a head -83 thereon which isslidable in the bore of sleeve 72. The rod extends through an aperturein an end cap 84 on sleeve awards? :f o r 72iandhas an eye 85 at itsend. Pin 86 is passedthrough the eye 85 and through the sides of :yokeBlattheouter end of piston rod. 83. Head 89 is on the inner end of rod88 and is slidacle in the bore of sleeve '13. A' spring' sections and apluralityof intermediate sections between said outer sections, eachsection having an axle, said axles being independent of each other,wheels on said axles,

first dovetail tongue and slot means vertically disposed at confrontingsides of said intermediate sections and interfitted to constrain themotion of said intermediate sections with respect to eachother andenable the sections to move independently of each other so that thewheels carried by the sections are capable of riding independently overirregularities in the surface that is being packed, the outer sides ofthe intermediate sections and the inner sides ofthe-outer sectionsprovided with vertically dis- 1 posed dovetail tongue and slot meansinterconnecting the paratively smooth surface (see Fig. 8) isencountered; s

all of the wheels will maintain the correctlevel. As the sections moveup and down the extensible link 58 can extend and twist in order tocompensate for the necessary motions of the sections.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. modifications and changes will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to theexact construction and operation .shown and .de-

Further, since numerous scribed, and accordingly all suitablemodifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within thescope of the invention as claimed.

What is ciaimed as new is as follows: t

1. In a road packer, the combination of apairof outer sections for freevertical movement, a draft member, means securing said draft member tosaid outer packer sections, and a spring loaded extensible articulatedlink secured at its ends to said outer sections and thereby aiding inholding said sections against lateral separation.-

- KZT I'hepacker of claim 1 wherein the grooves ofieach' tongue andgroove means each has an inner wall and a pair of outer walls whichconverge as they extend from the inner wall, and each tongue of both ofsaid tongue and groove means has an outer wall of larger cross-sectionalarea than the inner part thereof, and outwardly converging sides so thatthe tongues and grooves are interlocked with each other. 1

fRfifBlfillCES Cited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSPorter Jan. 6, 1953 Maloon ..s Jan. 17, 1956

